Travel Update, Wickes, Arkansas, May 13, 2015

Good evening everyone,

It has been a very long day. Good at times and frustrating at other times. As many of you recall I spent a few months in Wiches, Arkansas as a child while my dad came down there to manage his brothers canning factory while his brother recovered from an accident. Wickes is a small town which over the years has lost a lot of people and work places and now has a popilation of not much over a thousand. Based on my meager recollection of where we lived, where the factory was located and where I went to school I drove around for a few minutes just to look the place over. Believe me it only takes a few minutes now to see all there is to see. I did not see anything I recogized so I went to the City Hall and started asking questions.The water department , community meeting room and mayors desk is located in this building. The mayor if Leon McCleasey. Yes I said desk he does not have an office.There was one lady and one  man ( both water department employees ) there and neitheer had been ther more than15 to 20 years and I was there over 50 years ago. As we talked another water department employee came in and he recalled where the canning factory had been located but it was torn down during the 1960 time period. The City Hall building was the high school during the period I lived in Wickes. He told me the grade school that I probably attended had been torn down and a play ground now occupies that space. The more the three of them talked about what all they had heard about Wickes History they said that the house where I probably lived has been vacant for 30 or 40 years and has now just about caved in on itself and that it is back off the road with no drive way and totally grown up with weed and brush and it was not advisable to try to walk up to it.Where it was located I could not get a photograph. The locateion of the house sounds like the house I recall yet it just does not fit my memory. Later the one water department employee led me to the spot where the factory had been located as well as a railroad spur that served the factory. He said he helped remove the railroad ties for the town to use else where. From where the factory had been located he pointed out where the old grade school had been located. I drove to that locateion and took a photograph. I went back to the City Hall and the lady provided me a Face Book site that is suppose to have a lot of old photographs of Wickes. Also, the Mayor,who was not in today has a lot of old photographs and they suggested I write to him and find out exactly what he has. The following photographs aren't much but they fill in some gaps that needed filling.

Wickes Arkansas City Hall which years ago served as the High School

Wickes Arkansas City Hall

 The Old Diven Canning Plant building was situated in this area.

The spur railroad track that served the canning factory was located along here. You can see the current active rail road tracks at the top of the photograph.

 Looking through these six trees and across the railroad you can see a dirt area which is part of the general 

area of where the old grade school stood.

The fenced area to the left of yellow barrier and the large tree on the left is part of the area where the old grade school was located. As noted it is now a large fenced playground.

This is a posting of mostly negative information that yet for me is positive because I have for years wanted to come back to this area and look around. This area for decades has been the center for the pulp wood industry and long pine poles used by electical companies. When I lived here the strongest single memory has been the smell of pine wood waste product being burned literally around the clock. That is no longer done because of the Clean Air Regulatioin. All the saw dust, wood chips and bark are now use to make all sort of new wood products as opposed to being burned. I missed that smell. Also, much of the harvesting of the pine trees has moved severeal miles from Wickes. This is one of those practices where they clear cut the forest and plant new pines to grow and be harvesgted yeas later.  This after noon while driving down here I drove through a terrible wind and rain storm. For an hour or so all traffic was down to 10 - 15 miles per hour with our flashers on and constantly watching for water running over the road. Anyway, I enjoyed my walk down memory lane and tonight I am in College Station (  Bryan, Texas ) to see my grand daughter Sara receive her mastere's degree from Texas A & M University.

Another busy day awaits tomorrow, if the Lord is willing, and as I always say remember God loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill